The book traces the creation of the Lucchese state from classical antiquity to the end of the 15th century. It describes and explains the geographical configuration, institutional organization, and ...
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The book traces the creation of the Lucchese state from classical antiquity to the end of the 15th century. It describes and explains the geographical configuration, institutional organization, and social structures of an Italian city‐state that retained its independence in a world of much larger political entities. Medieval Lucca ruled over a relatively large city territory. The book argues that the region over which Lucca aspired to rule corresponded with its ecclesiastical diocese. Precise borders were the product of inter‐city warfare; but in early medieval Italy the diocese provided a basic framework in a world of fragmenting authority. The early chapters discuss not only the origins and evolving shape of the city territory, but also the firm control exercised by the city over its territory. Though not unique in this respect, Lucca provides a particularly strong example of the centralization of political and juridical power upon the hegemonic city. Lucca was especially innovative and precocious in the early division of its dominions into compact vicariates. Indeed Florence's restructuring of its own dominions was modelled on lands conquered during the fourteenth century from its western neighbour. The book asks how far Lucca's troubled political history in the fourteenth century subverted the earlier development of administrative institutions. Neither the disasters of the 14th century nor the decades of princely rule at the beginning of the 15th century brought a radical change of direction. The overview of the history of the Lucchese state from classical times provides the necessary background to the book's ultimate objective: the analysis in the final two chapters of the politico‐administrative and socio‐economic characteristics of the state that emerged from the Florentine wars of the 1430s. The final chapters compare Lucca with the new territorial or regional states of the Renaissance that have figured so largely in the historical literature, and ask whether the defining qualities of a city‐state retarded the greater market integration that historians have sometimes attributed to the newer political formations.Less

Medieval Lucca : And the Evolution of the Renaissance State

M. E. Bratchel

Published in print: 2008-09-04

The book traces the creation of the Lucchese state from classical antiquity to the end of the 15th century. It describes and explains the geographical configuration, institutional organization, and social structures of an Italian city‐state that retained its independence in a world of much larger political entities. Medieval Lucca ruled over a relatively large city territory. The book argues that the region over which Lucca aspired to rule corresponded with its ecclesiastical diocese. Precise borders were the product of inter‐city warfare; but in early medieval Italy the diocese provided a basic framework in a world of fragmenting authority. The early chapters discuss not only the origins and evolving shape of the city territory, but also the firm control exercised by the city over its territory. Though not unique in this respect, Lucca provides a particularly strong example of the centralization of political and juridical power upon the hegemonic city. Lucca was especially innovative and precocious in the early division of its dominions into compact vicariates. Indeed Florence's restructuring of its own dominions was modelled on lands conquered during the fourteenth century from its western neighbour. The book asks how far Lucca's troubled political history in the fourteenth century subverted the earlier development of administrative institutions. Neither the disasters of the 14th century nor the decades of princely rule at the beginning of the 15th century brought a radical change of direction. The overview of the history of the Lucchese state from classical times provides the necessary background to the book's ultimate objective: the analysis in the final two chapters of the politico‐administrative and socio‐economic characteristics of the state that emerged from the Florentine wars of the 1430s. The final chapters compare Lucca with the new territorial or regional states of the Renaissance that have figured so largely in the historical literature, and ask whether the defining qualities of a city‐state retarded the greater market integration that historians have sometimes attributed to the newer political formations.

This chapter considers and explains the precociousness of the political and administrative structures of the Lucchese state. From a very early period the Sei Miglia (the plain immediately around the ...
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This chapter considers and explains the precociousness of the political and administrative structures of the Lucchese state. From a very early period the Sei Miglia (the plain immediately around the city) was ruled by officials called podestà, who were appointed and sent out by Lucca. These podestà soon disappeared, and the Sei Miglia came to be ruled without intermediary institutions—directly from the city. Village officials were gradually reduced to the role of collecting taxes, receiving orders, and reporting offenders to the city courts. By the late 13th century, at a time when in other city‐states the mountains were ruled by a ramshackle array of local lords, leagues, captains, podestà, and vicars, the mountains around Lucca were already reduced to a discrete number of territorial vicariates, each headed by a vicar, accompanied by a judge and by a retinue of notaries—all citizens; all appointed from Lucca; all appointed for a short period of office, which was not to exceed six months. Firm urban control is attributed both to the legacy of the city's earlier history and to more recent political developments during and after the reign of the Emperor Frederick I.Less

The Administration of a Medieval City‐Territory: Twelfth to Fourteenth Centuries

M. E. Bratchel

Published in print: 2008-09-04

This chapter considers and explains the precociousness of the political and administrative structures of the Lucchese state. From a very early period the Sei Miglia (the plain immediately around the city) was ruled by officials called podestà, who were appointed and sent out by Lucca. These podestà soon disappeared, and the Sei Miglia came to be ruled without intermediary institutions—directly from the city. Village officials were gradually reduced to the role of collecting taxes, receiving orders, and reporting offenders to the city courts. By the late 13th century, at a time when in other city‐states the mountains were ruled by a ramshackle array of local lords, leagues, captains, podestà, and vicars, the mountains around Lucca were already reduced to a discrete number of territorial vicariates, each headed by a vicar, accompanied by a judge and by a retinue of notaries—all citizens; all appointed from Lucca; all appointed for a short period of office, which was not to exceed six months. Firm urban control is attributed both to the legacy of the city's earlier history and to more recent political developments during and after the reign of the Emperor Frederick I.

Excluding the years when Lucca, with much of north‐west Tuscany, was ruled by Castruccio Castracani, the 14th century was for Lucca a time of crisis and humiliation. After 1328 Lucca passed, often by ...
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Excluding the years when Lucca, with much of north‐west Tuscany, was ruled by Castruccio Castracani, the 14th century was for Lucca a time of crisis and humiliation. After 1328 Lucca passed, often by purchase, under the dominion of a series of foreign lords; the city eventually ended up under the rule of the hated Pisans. During these years Lucca's territorial boundaries were permanently and significantly reduced; some Lucchese vicariates were taken over by Lucca's masters, others fell into private hands. The rule of one city by another did not necessarily lead to interference in the political or administrative structures of the subject city; the privatization of individual vicariates was to prove aberrant and short lived. This chapter argues that the nature of the Lucchese state was not subverted in essentials by the period of foreign rule. The state recovered by the restored republic in 1370 was smaller but unchanged in its fundamental characteristics. The richer documentation of the fourteenth century enables me to explore these defining characteristics in much greater detail, both for the heartland of the Lucchese state and for those territories that passed temporarily out of Lucca's control.Less

The Fourteenth Century: The Lucchese State from the Loss of Independence to the Recovery of Liberty

M. E. Bratchel

Published in print: 2008-09-04

Excluding the years when Lucca, with much of north‐west Tuscany, was ruled by Castruccio Castracani, the 14th century was for Lucca a time of crisis and humiliation. After 1328 Lucca passed, often by purchase, under the dominion of a series of foreign lords; the city eventually ended up under the rule of the hated Pisans. During these years Lucca's territorial boundaries were permanently and significantly reduced; some Lucchese vicariates were taken over by Lucca's masters, others fell into private hands. The rule of one city by another did not necessarily lead to interference in the political or administrative structures of the subject city; the privatization of individual vicariates was to prove aberrant and short lived. This chapter argues that the nature of the Lucchese state was not subverted in essentials by the period of foreign rule. The state recovered by the restored republic in 1370 was smaller but unchanged in its fundamental characteristics. The richer documentation of the fourteenth century enables me to explore these defining characteristics in much greater detail, both for the heartland of the Lucchese state and for those territories that passed temporarily out of Lucca's control.

Chapter Two focuses on the difficulties the Visconti faced in claiming absolute power. Alberico da Rosciate, refused to accept that signori had any such right, but Signorolo degli Omodei supported ...
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Chapter Two focuses on the difficulties the Visconti faced in claiming absolute power. Alberico da Rosciate, refused to accept that signori had any such right, but Signorolo degli Omodei supported the Visconti's claim. Azzone, Luchino, and Giovanni Visconti's initial assumption that they had been granted plenitude of power by subject communes was replaced, under their successors, with the belief that such power came with the imperial vicariate. Given that many signori lacked an imperial vicariate or had had it revoked (as with Galeazzo II and Bernabò), jurists appeared unsure about the source of rulers' absolute powers in this period, Baldo degli Ubaldi accepting that most signori had little basis for the claim.Less

The Early Visconti and the Claim to Absolute Power

Jane Black

Published in print: 2009-10-08

Chapter Two focuses on the difficulties the Visconti faced in claiming absolute power. Alberico da Rosciate, refused to accept that signori had any such right, but Signorolo degli Omodei supported the Visconti's claim. Azzone, Luchino, and Giovanni Visconti's initial assumption that they had been granted plenitude of power by subject communes was replaced, under their successors, with the belief that such power came with the imperial vicariate. Given that many signori lacked an imperial vicariate or had had it revoked (as with Galeazzo II and Bernabò), jurists appeared unsure about the source of rulers' absolute powers in this period, Baldo degli Ubaldi accepting that most signori had little basis for the claim.

This chapter uses Binh’s own self-introduction to situate him within the particular geographies that shaped the trajectory of his life. The chapter shows how Binh positioned himself both locally and ...
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This chapter uses Binh’s own self-introduction to situate him within the particular geographies that shaped the trajectory of his life. The chapter shows how Binh positioned himself both locally and globally, and how this influenced his life. The chapter then steps back to explore the history of the Catholic missions in Tonkin, revealing increasing rivalry between the Portuguese Jesuits and the later-arriving French and Spanish mission societies. It shows the degree to which geographical situations shaped these projects: from the increasing involvement of the Spanish, based in the Philippines, to the division of Tonkin into two vicariates assigned to the Dominicans and the MEP missionaries. It also discusses Binh’s religious training, first as a catechist of an Italian Jesuit priest, and later as a seminary student in a Dominican religious school. It describes the consequences of the Jesuit order’s disestablishment in 1773, and the growing challenges facing its loyalists as their priests slowly began to disappear.Less

Philiphê Bỉnh and the Catholic Geographies of Tonkin

George E. Dutton

Published in print: 2016-12-12

This chapter uses Binh’s own self-introduction to situate him within the particular geographies that shaped the trajectory of his life. The chapter shows how Binh positioned himself both locally and globally, and how this influenced his life. The chapter then steps back to explore the history of the Catholic missions in Tonkin, revealing increasing rivalry between the Portuguese Jesuits and the later-arriving French and Spanish mission societies. It shows the degree to which geographical situations shaped these projects: from the increasing involvement of the Spanish, based in the Philippines, to the division of Tonkin into two vicariates assigned to the Dominicans and the MEP missionaries. It also discusses Binh’s religious training, first as a catechist of an Italian Jesuit priest, and later as a seminary student in a Dominican religious school. It describes the consequences of the Jesuit order’s disestablishment in 1773, and the growing challenges facing its loyalists as their priests slowly began to disappear.

This chapter focuses on the development of prophetic Christianity in Brazil and Chile in the 1970s and 1980s. In Brazil, Bishop Helder Camara and the Conferência Nacional dos Bispos do Brasil ...
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This chapter focuses on the development of prophetic Christianity in Brazil and Chile in the 1970s and 1980s. In Brazil, Bishop Helder Camara and the Conferência Nacional dos Bispos do Brasil (National Conference of Brazilian Bishops) led the fight against an oppressive military government. A key role was also played by base ecclesial communities, small groups of believers in impoverished areas who met to study the Bible and to fight for neighborhood improvements and social justice. In Chile, Cardinal Raúl Silva Henríquez and the archdiocese of Santiago’s Vicariate of Solidarity defended the unjustly accused and published one of the only periodicals not controlled by the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet.Less

Prophetic Christianity in Brazil and Chile

Todd Hartch

Published in print: 2014-02-03

This chapter focuses on the development of prophetic Christianity in Brazil and Chile in the 1970s and 1980s. In Brazil, Bishop Helder Camara and the Conferência Nacional dos Bispos do Brasil (National Conference of Brazilian Bishops) led the fight against an oppressive military government. A key role was also played by base ecclesial communities, small groups of believers in impoverished areas who met to study the Bible and to fight for neighborhood improvements and social justice. In Chile, Cardinal Raúl Silva Henríquez and the archdiocese of Santiago’s Vicariate of Solidarity defended the unjustly accused and published one of the only periodicals not controlled by the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet.

This chapter details the illegal procedures that led to the kidnapping, detention, and internment of the La Salettes. It describes the chaotic “interrogation,” where they were accused of being ...
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This chapter details the illegal procedures that led to the kidnapping, detention, and internment of the La Salettes. It describes the chaotic “interrogation,” where they were accused of being members of the CIA and Marxist guerrillas at the same time. The police were concerned by the books they read, the music they listened to, their acquaintances, and the money they had in the house. The chapter describes the harsh living conditions in prison and the exclusion of the seminarians from any religious rite. They were banned from attending Mass, reading the Bible, or receiving Communion. Meanwhile, their friends on the outside were working hard on “legalizing” them and securing the intervention of the U.S. Embassy in Argentina.Less

The long night

Gustavo Morello, SJ

Published in print: 2015-08-01

This chapter details the illegal procedures that led to the kidnapping, detention, and internment of the La Salettes. It describes the chaotic “interrogation,” where they were accused of being members of the CIA and Marxist guerrillas at the same time. The police were concerned by the books they read, the music they listened to, their acquaintances, and the money they had in the house. The chapter describes the harsh living conditions in prison and the exclusion of the seminarians from any religious rite. They were banned from attending Mass, reading the Bible, or receiving Communion. Meanwhile, their friends on the outside were working hard on “legalizing” them and securing the intervention of the U.S. Embassy in Argentina.